Which were the good ones?
Which were the bad ones?

I can answer both questions with the same answer. Grandchildren.

My favorite guests are pleasant to be around - even after a day of standing in lines to see the white-house-capitol-smithsonian-Mt. Vernon-treasury building-embassy row, etc. [I know, heat and high humidity can make that an unreal expectation - I sympathise with, and will do all I can to ease their grumpy misery, but fights with spouse or sibling should not take place in front of me]. If it's their second+ visit, good-guys do NOT ask me to drive them to see 'all the sights'; and they understand that I have a thingie about promptness - if they say they will be back for dinner at 7, then they realize that dinner will not be waiting at 9. And speaking of dinner, good-guys let me know *before* I start to prepare meals if they have any allergies. My very favorite-est folks do not bring me candy or cut flowers, and they do clean the sink after shaving or putting on make-up. And, best of all, they seem to have a good time while visiting.

The best are those who do not expect to be entertained 24/7. That means those who are comfortable enough with my home to act as if it were theirs. I show them where the clean linens are, make sure the beds are changed before they arrive, and introduce them to my cabinets and pantry. I like to go explore with them, but also invite them to use this place as home base and not oblige me to act as guide for every event. I'll gladly throw on a decent feed twice a day, snacks and b'fast they can help themselves, because I don't do snacks and b'fast myself. I also appreciate those who understand my business is home based, and that just because I am on my property that doesn't mean I have a day off. I can jiggle my schedule around a little to fit play time in, but at the end of the day, my day revolves around my plants.

I feel just like you suzy - most of my guests start with jet lag, so some are happy to know where everything is in the kitchen, so they can make breakfast when they wake up early, without waiting for me to appear. My favourite guests were happy for me to drop them at the train station to spend the day in New York exploring on their own, or drop them in town where they happily had lunch in a cafe and walked around. Or spent the day in the garden reading a book.

My least favourite are the ones who want me to arrange their visit for them, like a tour guide. "And what have you planned for us to do today?" I heard every day. It's hard to come up with stuff to see every day for two weeks, when all I want to do is get out in the garden, or do my grocery shopping in order to make a decent dinner for them.
Instead I end up driving all over the state, then making dinner, while they just sit on the sofa, waiting for food to appear, like a hotel. And then, during dinner, they lecture us on US Foreign policy, as though it's our fault, personally.

Yes, that's it: my favourite guests are the ones who know I'm not on vacation, even if they are. My least favourite are the ones who think I'm a hotel/tour guide with only them to think about.

My favorite guests make themselves at home.
Feel free to raid the fridge, make a cup of hot tea
or grab a fishing rod and head to the lake.
I'll cook you a nice breakfast, take you to lunch at my
favorite little place or make you a sandwich here.
I'll dinner for you or take you out.
Just please make yourself at home.

The worst guest, a relative's wife from up north that
criticized all things southern, our accents, our food,
our culture.

My mom used to say that guests are like fish. They all begin to stink after four or five days.

And do those of you who live in and around favorite tourist attractions find that all of a sudden you have "friends" you didn't even know about? Years ago when a dear friend moved to San Francisco, she found people she barely knew or remembered would contact her not only wanting to stay (for free)at her house, but also expect her to be the equivalent of the Grey Line bus tour guide.

We had friends from the UK here this summer for a week & they were great guests. I did try and show them the sights, such as they are around Tyler, Texas, but they were also self-entertaining. One of their favorite things to do was to sit out on my back porch & watch the birds at the feeder - many, many they'd never seen before. I just gave them my Texas bird book & they were good for hours.

Years ago, my mother had a riverfront cottage. Dock, boat, beach....all that good stuff. We would take the kids over for the weekend. We could count on "friends" dropping by. One Sunday we counted 20 people and their kids.

These were people that never came to see us at home. Never called or showed the least bit of interest. I got tired of being polite and cleaning up after them. I let it be known that since they weren't interested in US as a family, they surely were not interested on where we spent our weekends. They were not welcome to return. That ended that. Did I lose friends? Not exactly. One of the "friends" bought a place farther up the river and the gang all moved up there until they got tired of it too.

OMG, that's like the family who has the inground pool and turns into the community country club/babysitting service. I remember when my first husband was in Vietnam, and I was home with two kids under the age of one and a half. I had my hands plenty full at home and did not work for that stretch, and it meant that everyone who lived around us (most of them students and student wives who worked) assumed I was the local babysitting service. One aquaintance asked if I'd watch her kids the week she had her finals. I found out after the fact her kids had chickenpox. Of course that meant after the week with four infants/toddlers was over I got another week of chickenpox with my own kids. I got almost afraid to open my doors because when I did was a mother or father with a rug rat in tow asking if I could just watch them for a few minutes and it ended up hours with meals served, because I couldn't feed my kids in front of somebody else's hungry child. No, I never asked for, nor was I ever, ever offered compenstion . Those days are over. A bit of age on me has allowed me to learn to say no, after I've been taken advantage of one time around. It doesn't embarrass me in the least anymore, because who is zooming whom? They should be the embarrassed ones.

LOL! Suzy, I'd forgotten about the swimming pool analogy, but your're absolutlely right! It never ceases to amaze me the nerve theat some peole have.

Oh the darn swimming pool...i remember we were one of the first in the neighborhood with an inground pool, son was 18 months old and wow did he attract children of all ages lol...i just learned to ignore the kids hanging on the fence asking how warm the water was or complaining how hot they were...or asking if Josh wanted to play lol.

Suzy, it was tales like yours from my friends who had imposing neighbors that made me, when we moved into a house with a large unfenced yard, immediately fence it in. I had a 2 year old and the rule was if we were outside, the neighbors or kids were free to come over...but if inside, not! No kids ringing doorbells. Adults to phone first before dropping in. Took a few times not answering door to get point across. "Oh, I thought it was probably a thoughtless kid...you should have phoned me"...LOL Gosh, I sound ungracious but my home was my sanctuary. josh